In 2006, Porter joined the faculty of the University of Iowa College of Law.[6] In March 2012, California Attorney General Kamala Harris appointed Porter to be the state's independent monitor of banks in a nationwide $25 billion mortgage settlement.[7] As monitor, she oversaw the banks' implementation of $9.5 billion in settlement reforms for Californians.[8]

Porter was previously married to Matthew Hoffman, with whom she has three children. Porter said during her campaign that her marriage was marked by physical and mental abuse.[17] According to Porter, her husband punched her, shoved her one-year-old daughter across the kitchen, threatened to kill himself, and hurled profane insults at her family.[17] The couple divorced in 2013, and Porter is now a single mother with custody of their children.